Holy Prophet John the Forerunner and Baptizer of the Lord

August 29th
Troparion (Tone 2)
The memory of the just is mentioned with praise. As for you, O Forerunner, the Lord's witness is enough: indeed, you were greater than the prophets since you were found worthy to baptize in the waters the one they could but announce. You have fought for the sake of truth and proclaimed to those in hades that God who appeared in the flesh has taken away the sins of the world and bestowed his great mercy upon us.

John was the son of Zachariah, a Temple priest, and his wife, Elizabeth, the cousin of the Theotokos. He was born when his parents were advanced in years, after a prophecy by an angel. He lived an ascetical life in the wilderness as an Old Testament Prophet, and he preached a message of repentance and of preparation for the coming of the Messiah and his Kingdom. He himself baptized Christ in the Jordan River and proclaimed Him as the Messiah. John was imprisoned for denouncing the incestuous union of Herod Antipas with Herodias. When Salome', Herodias' daughter, greatly pleased Herod with her dancing, he promised to give her whatever she wanted. Prompted by her mother, she demanded the head of St. John on a platter. He was immediately executed. He is holding the chalice and pointing to Christ in the chalice. His scroll reads: "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the whole world." The wild olive tree has a branch cut off and grafted onto the domesticated olive whose branches have been cut off, signifying the turning point that John represents between Old and New Testaments. His life is portrayed from top to bottom around the central icon:
The Annunciation to St. Zacharias
The Conception of the Forerunner
The Visitation of the Theotokos
The Nativity of the Forerunner
The Circumcision fo the Forerunner
Fearing Herod Elizabeth Fleeth with the Child John
The Angel of the Lord Leads the Forerunner into the Wilderness
The Prayer of the Forerunner in the Wilderness
The Theophany of the Lord
The Synaxis of the Forerunner
The Beheading of the Forerunner
The Finding of the Head of the Forerunner

This Icon is by the hand of an iconographer who wishes to be anonymous*. It is at St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church, Conemaugh, Pennsylvania.

Order #cap-18

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